Jess Allam
Bob can generally be seen with a group of 3 female longhorns. They have a strong bond as a group, although Bob does have his favourites! When the lighter grey cow once found herself on the wrong side of the fence at South Swale, Bob was not happy and could be heard frantically mooing at her. The following week another cow in the group escaped the compartment and Bob was not at all bothered!
Nadia Ward
He has spent his past four summers at our South Swale nature reserve, a coastal site, where he has impacted the reed beds by breaking them up and creating channels through them, allowing access for the sheep to graze. He also has an important job as a visible sign of livestock being present on the site, which can lessen the frequency of sheep suffering from dog attacks (from which they have in the past).
. Jess Allam
Bob and his gang move over to our Darland Banks nature reserve in the winter months. Darland is a very different environment to South Swale. It is a chalk grassland site and Bob will spend most of his time here breaking up the scrub and eating the grass. He loves to scratch his chest on twigs in the scrub here. Sometimes he buries himself deep in scrub, leaving staff and volunteers wondering how he managed to get there; a person would need power tools to cut through the scrub that he can just walk through!
Alison Ruyter
Alison Ruyter
Sweeping panoramic views are not what you expect to find in the heart of the Medway towns but this site has long defied convention. This is our most diverse reserve which is home to the largest population of Man orchids in the country.
In the winter, South Swale welcomes migrating birds such as brent geese, turnstones, dunlin, avocets, osytercatchers and ringed plovers. In the summer, it's home to carpets of flowers which attract butterflies and some rare bee species!
